Saturday, March 17, 2012

Getting "Stoned"

I just finished two Jesse Stone series books by Robert Parker, Night Passage and Sea Change. I had seen the movies based on the books and decided to read them. I also needed a change of pace from reading pages of policy, business presentations and work related documents. Jesse Stone is the Chief of a very small beach town police force. Stone is portrayed in his mid 30s in the books while Selleck is a few decades older than that.

The stories don't seem to matter to me as much as the dialogue and character development. Night Passage is the first of the Jesse Stone series and provides you an idea of Stone's demons, alcohol and his ex-wife, who never leaves his mind.

Of the three series that I have read of Parker's characters, Stone is my third favorite. I would rate the Western series (Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch) and Spencer series higher. Stone is a man of very few words, not unlike Virgil Cole. Spenser is more witty.

I have read that new authors will begin to publish the Stone and Spenser series. I'll be curious how they stack up to what Parker has done.

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